Since Jan. 5, 2008 at 2 a.m.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Dan Giese pitched a great six innings, leaving with a 2-1 lead. After the Yankees tacked on another run, it looked like smooth sailing.

Not so fast.

Jose Veras and Edwar Ramirez have turned into Kyle Farnsworth Pt. 2 in the seventh and eighth innings, snatching defeat from the hands of victory.

As I've said with Sidney Ponson in the past, starts like these from Giese will most likely be few and far between, so it's best to take advantage of the good starts if and when you get them. Apparently the Yankees didn't get the memo.

1 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Enough of this pitch count mentality! Giese did everything you wanted a pitcher to do against a team like the Angels. Unfortunately, Girardi outsmarted himself and seemed to mimic Torre's line of thinking when it came to the use of the bullpen. A very costly loss! The Angels aren't too different from the Yankees of the championship years, always mounting the comebacks and exploiting the weakness of the opponent's bullpen after the starter is gone.

Just before this road trip started, I felt their performance would either make or break their entry into the postseason. Even if they aren't mathematically eliminated at the end of this stretch, this "consistent" performance will be their undoing by September. Their season has pretty much followed the same pattern; a decent winning streak, with several close, gritty games. Then they cool off, losing games where they've had leads or ones where they bungle golden scoring opportunities. This doesn't make a playoff team.